The Israeli military shot down a cruise missile headed for the southern Golan Heights in northern Israel, a spokesman for the IDF said Thursday. The IDF described the missile as coming “from the east,” a phrase it has used in the past to refer to attacks fired from Iraq, the Times of Israel reported, although no one has yet claimed responsibility. The missile was intercepted without incident; no injuries or damage to property were reported, although the missile’s flight set off sirens in northern Israel. Amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza, it has occasionally taken fire from Iran-backed proxy militias in the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen; Iraq’s militant group the Islamic Resistance has claimed past drone strikes in southern Israel, far from the missile that was intercepted in the annexed Golan Heights. The IDF continues to press its offensive in Rafah, the last place of refuge for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians, defying an ICJ order to stop. Ceasefire negotiations are expected to resume this week.
